Mr Canavan said players, coaches and officials were embarrassed by slapping incidents.

“Slapping may not always hurt physically but it is a poor look for the game and a bad example to juniors,” he said.

“Referees will now be empowered to deal with slapping incidents as they would with punches – by using the sin bin.”

Based on the current Laws and Interpretations, the Bunker can intervene in instances where a player should be sent to the sin bin.

The committee also recommended:

The current process around concussion and Head Injury Assessments should remain while further analysis is undertaken on the issue;

Not to introduce an 18th man to replace players forced out of a game through a head injury, although the game will continue to review interchange procedures;

The NRL Medical Advisory Panel should make any recommendation on whether independent doctors should be used for head injury incidents.

The Committee discussed player workload and balance as well as the continuing game trends following the reduction to eight interchanges.

The Committee was also given an update on the offside line technology and the Women’s Rugby League working group.

During a State of the Game update, the Committee was told that after five rounds

Average video referral (Bunker) decision times were tracking 8 percent faster than 2016 (59 seconds on average in 2017 compared to 64 seconds in 2016), while referral rates were significantly down on 2016 (2.80 per game in 2017, compared to 3.53 in 2016);

Average game margins were tracking to be the closest since 2011, while the percentage of games decided by 6 points or less was up from 34% in 2016 to 38% in 2017.